Velvet-pile-cutting knife



Jan. 16, 1923. 1,442,334. H. A. GREGOIRE.

VELVET PILE CUTTING KNIFE. FILED DEC. 22. 1919.

INVENTOR:

' 26;; ATTORNEY.

Patented Jan. 16, 1923.

NITED STATES HECTOR A. GREGOIRE, OF LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS.

VELVET-PILE-CUTTING KNIFE.

Application filed December 22, 1919.

To all who 171 2 2? may concern Be it known that I, Hno'ron A. Gnneoinn,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Lowell, in the county of Middlesex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have in vented a certain new and useful Improvement in Velvet-Pile-Cutting Knives, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to velvet-pile cut- 10 ting knives.

The objects of this invention are to balance the knife in order to diminish the clan ger 'of its tipping laterally and tipping to cause the guide to pierce the cloth and increase the danger of tearing the cloth and of bending and breaking the guide; also to hold the guide from pivotal movement until it has actually pierced the cloth; also to means of releasing the guide, when and only when the guide has pierced the cloth.

In cutting the pile of cotton velvet the ends of a long piece, perhaps a hundred yards long, are stitched together and placed on rolls which are then revolved causing the cloth to travel rapidly at the rate of about one hundred yards a minute. But before the rolls are started the knife-guide is placed in the threads of 'the first race and each race must be separately cut, the machine must be stopped at the end of each race and the guide inserted in another racev hen the point of the knife-guide strikes a knot or a float, (that is, athread which is not woven in as close on the face as it should be), the point is likely to be caught by such a knot or float and to pierce the cloth and then unless the guide is instantly withdrawn or turned over so that the guide points backward, so that the advancing cloth will be drawn from it, said guide will make a hole which may be a slit or an irregular hole incapable of being perfectly or economically mended and the rent in the cloth renders it necessary to out the race adjacent to the tear by hand while the machine is at rest causing a great waste of time.

In the accompanying drawing, Fig. l. is a plan of a pile-cutting knife provided with my invention, the parts being in position for use; Fig. 2, a left side elevation of the same with a part of the left side broken away; Fig. 3, a left side elevation of the guide-holder and supporting sleeve; Fig. 4, a vertical cross section on the line 4-4 in Fig. 1; Fig. 5, an isometric view of the holder and supporting sleeve.

Serial No. 346,587.

I A represents the so-called handle, hereinafter called the shank, one end of which is provided with a handle a. proper by which the knife is held and guided by the hand of the operative. In front of the handle a. is the usual stud a which connects with the well-known stop-motion (not shown). From the handle a the greater part of the shank is thin and is then forked at a to receive movable parts of the device, the free ends of the fork being properly spaced by the rest C arranged between the tines a? of the fork, which rest extends to the tops of said tines, the vertical side portions 0 c of said rest being riveted to said tines. A further object of the rest is to keep the knife-guide from turnin over so far when the guide pierces the cloth, as to bring the rear end of the blade into engagement with the cloth and thus to tear said cloth.

The knife-guide D is of well known form having a needle-pointed front end (Z and gradually increasing in diameter from front to rear and having in its upper side a longitudinal slit al which extends from near its point to its rear end and gradually widens and deepens towards the rear. In this slit the blade E of gradually increasing depth and thickness from front to rear and sharpened on its upper edge, is retained by friction in the usual manner.

The knife-guide D containing the blade E is held by friction in the trough-like holder F and this holder is provided with an upwardly extending arm 7' which connects it rigidly to the sleeve 7" which reaches across the space between the tines a and turns freely on an arbor G which extends horizontally through both tines a a? of the fork and is retained therein by a flat but ton g of spring material, one end of which is piioted at g on the side of one of the tines (If and the other end of which is indented at g and swings over the enlarged end or head 7 of said arbor, so that by swinging said button off from the head of the arbor, the holder F, knife-guide D and blade E may be removed for repairs. For more securely holding the blade E in the guide, a ring or clasp J surrounds the blade and the guide and is retained in place by a radial set-screw j.

The knife is held in working position by the stop above said guide and by the latch H below it, said stop and latch being arranged in front of the arbor G.

The stop is rigidly secured to a sleeve I and is provided at its free end with a notch 21 which receives the guide and prevents it from rising. The sleeve 2' turns on a screw /1 and is held by tightening said screw which turns in the tines a r The downward movement of the guide D is limited by a latch which comprises a vertical stem h which turns in a sleeve 71 (secured to one of the tines a and has at its lower end an arm h which swings under said guide, said arm being normally held in this position by a spring represented as a spiral spring 7L3, compressed between the top of said sleeve 7L and a nut 71, which turns on the threaded upper end of the stem it, said nut being prevented from accidental movement by a check-nut it. One end of the spring k is connected to the nut and the other end of said spring to the sleeve. and causes the arm 72/ to swing inward when displaced and let go. When the knife-guide pierces the cloth and the cloth strikes the arm b said arm is swung outward and allows the guide to be turned on its pivot.

The tines of the fork may be more rigidly held at their proper distance from each other by a sleeve 70 which reaches from one tine to the other and is held in place by a rivet K which passes through said sleeve and both of said tines.

Usually the front arm of the guide rests against the under side for the foot of the rest C which reaches horizontally across the space between said tines with a continuous surface and the cloth or velvet is apt to be pinched and wrinkled between the said guide and said rest but I make said rest in the shape shown in Figs. 1 and 4 with two separate feet 0 0 entirely out of contact with each other and with the guide, at all times.

I claim as my invention:

1. The combination in a pile-cutting knife of a shank or body, forked at the front, a sleeve arranged between the tines of said fork and reaching across the space between said tines, an arbor, on which said sleeve turns freely, extending through said tines and sleeve, a trough-like guide-holder, an arm rigidly connecting said holder to said sleeve, and a blade carried by said guide,

said guide being retained in said holder by friction.

2. The combination in a pile-cutting knife of a shank or body forked at the front, a sleeve arranged between the tines of said fork and reaching across the space between said tines, an arbor, on which said sleeve turns freely, extending through said tines and sleeve, a trough-like guide-holder, an arm rigidly connecting said holder to said sleeve, a blade carried by said guide, said guide being retained in said holder by friction, said arbor having an enlarged head and a button pressing upon said head to retain said arbor in place.

3. The combination in a pile-cutting knife of a body having a forked or spaced front end, a knife-guide pivoted between the sides or tines of said forked end, a latch having a vertical stem, a vertical sleeve secured to one of said tines, in which sleeve said stem turns, an arm secured to the lower end of said stem, and a spring normally holding said arm below said guide but yielding when the work is pierced by said guide and comes in contact with said arm.

4c. The combination in a pile-cutting knife of a body having a forked or spaced front end, a knife-guide pivoted between the sides or tines of said forked end, a latch having a vertical stem, a vertical sleeve secured to one of said tines, in which sleeve said stem turns, an arm secured to the lower end of said stem and a spring normally holding said arm below said guide but yielding when the work is pierced by said guide and comes in contact with said arm, and a notched stop arranged above said guide.

5. The combination in a pile-cutting knife of a rigidbody having a forked or spaced front end, a knife-guide pivoted between the sides or tines of said forked end, means for normally retaining said guide in a stationary position and a rest having separate feet, at all times out of contact with said rest, and the top of said guide crossing the space between said tines, to limit the turning movement of said guide and to prevent the rear end of said guide from coming in contact with said cloth.

HECTOR A. GREGOIREk 

